Tag: Nature Reserve
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Preserving High Bogs: Stakeholders, Risks, and Solutions
Moors develop over thousands of years. Left untouched, they rise by a couple of millimeters every year. High bogs (also called raised bogs) are efficient retainers of CO2, the gas that drives climate warming. In Switzerland, there are at least three interest groups influencing the fate of high bogs: a) farmers, who own the bogs…
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Hiking a Raised Bog
Walking through a moor isn’t easy. The ground is soft and the boot sinks into the mud if you didn’t wait until sunny weather has dried out the tracks. Moors have an important climate stabilizing role and should be protected wherever possible. They are strong retainers of CO2. The largest raised bogs (highland moors) are…
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Altitude impacts vegetation
The focus of my blog is to describe and document with my camera the fauna and flora of the Vogelmoos. This nature reserve is located in Central Switzerland, approximately 15 miles west of Lucerne, where I live. The Vogelmoos was founded on the initative of a gamekeeper in the 1970s. He raised funds and founded…
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On a warm and humid day
We are experiencing a summer break after so many days of rain. We are not yet up for a long stretch of dry and sunny weather. Rain is forcast for tomorrow. Two days were enough to hear the call for hiking and outdoor photography. Nature loves this weather and responds with tremendous growth of the…
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Vogelmoos Nature Reserve: Lush Green Vegetation and Wildlife Return After Heavy Rain
Having been out of the country for almost 3 months, I was excited to return to the Nature Reserve to see the changes that had occurred. I left Switzerland amid threats of winter weather including snow flurries down to the plains and icy temperatures. Weeks later, a period of hefty rain followed, causing floods in…
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Wonders of Spring
What a beautiful sight while following the meanders of the Wyna, a brook flowing through Beromünster, a small town in the Canton of Lucerne, today. It was cloudy at first but the sun made a midday appearance whilst the temperatures stayed around 50° F (10° C). See, what I found on this Good Friday morning…
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Fauna & Flora in Early Spring
There is no question any longer: Spring prevails albeit winter temperatures still pose a threat to hiking. Trekking is not yet possible – there is too much snow in the Alps. Visiting my “photographic homeland” just a few days ago, I mired the sprouting of plants and return of animals forecasting the expansion of all…
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Tender Signs of Spring
Aren’t we waiting for decisive signs of spring? This longing stems from the inumerable disruptions of winter by burst of blue skies and warm temperatures that suddenly retrace to the cold of winter with low lying clouds and intermittent snow. On one of the recent days pointing to the warmer season to come, I shot…
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The End of Tree Life
The disappearance of the leaves on the trees and the retraction of greens on the ground in late fall free the view on trees. It is easy to distinguish healthy trees from sicklish or dying and dead ones. I am not always sure what I see. Is it the display of a late life cycle…
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Where is it?
The weather is still oscillating between winter and early spring. Albeit in mid-February, we are a long time before snow has disappeared for good. On some days the mountains are white like in deep winter and just a week later the snowmay only cap the summits. Perhaps some readers passing by my blog might ask:…
Vogelmoos Nature Reserve 